Martin Bobowsky

Research Notes

Henderson’s Winnipeg Directories were published annually for a number of cities in western Canada, including Winnipeg, in the 19th and 20th centuries. They generally recorded the name and occupation of the head of the household at each residential address in the city, listed alpabetically by surname and alphabetically by street address. The directories for some years also list working members of the household, including family members and boarders, in addition to the head. Most directories also included a business section listed alphabetically by business category.

The Winnipeg directories were normally published in February of each year based on data collected the previous year. So the 1925 directory, for example, would generally record who was living where during 1924. Not every address was updated every year so there are longer time lags in some instances.

The directories frequently contained errors as is quite apparent from many of the Bobowsky listings. This is not surprising given the technology used to produce them.

There is a Wikipedia page on Henderson’s Directories. Many of the directories have been published online by the Peel Library at the University of Alberta and are searchable. A Google search is generally the simplest way to locate the Winnipeg Directory for any specific year.